The present invention relates generally to level indicating devices and, in particular, to a device used to indicate proper orientation of a recreation vehicle (RV).
Recreation vehicles are moveable living quarters, such as motor homes, trailers, and campers, which generally include small living areas, sleeping quarters, and kitchens. Most of these RVs are equiped with equipment, such as refrigerators, which must be approximately level to operate properly. These refrigerators generally have a tolerance of three degrees from horizontal level; approximately the maximum angle from horizontal which can provide the occupants with comfortable living quarters.
The problem of leveling equipment within a general range when the equipment is continually mobile arises frequently with refrigerators in RVs. Therefore, refrigrators in RVs are the focus of the subsequent discussion. However, it is recognized that in the border aspects of the invention, other types of equipment and vehicles might be involved.
The majority of parking areas for RVs are intended to be within the horizontal tolerance for refrigerators. When the parking pads are horizontal, there is no problem with respect to the refrigerator. However, since this is not always the situation, the driver of the vehicle must move the RV into a variety of positions on the parking pad until proper orientation is achieved, or, where the RV is so equiped, the wheels of the RV must be altered with respect to the vehicle's chassis to obtain the appropriate level orientation. Frequently the operator will be required to level the RV in the dark.
To conveniently and inexpensively allow the operator of an RV to level the wheels of the vehicle for proper refrigerator operation, a mechanism is required which can be easily read to the appropriate tolerance in the day or night and which can be mounted conveniently on the ceiling near the refrigerator itself. Although some mechanisms for leveling RVs have been invented, they do not incorporate easy to read liquid leveling devices readily marked for the tolerance required for proper refrigerator operation. Neither do these previous mechanisms include built in lights for reading the mechanism in the dark.